December 2017
Europe Song Contest 12 was the twelfth edition of Europe Song Contest. It took place in Greece following Marina and The Diamonds's winning in October 2017. This was the first time that Greece hosted the show. It was announced on 9 November that Athens will host this edition. Five days after announced the host city, the Greek broadcaster announced that the contest will take place at Peace and Friendship Stadium. After the Greek broadcaster announced the venue of the edition, on the next day they announced that former participant and spokesperson, Helena Paparizou will host the edition, while Demy was selected as the green room host. Demy has also participated in the contest and announced the Greek points too. On 20 November 2017, it was announced that 33 countries will participate in the 12th edition. It was announced on 22 October that Armenia, Hungary and Serbia will return to the contest while Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Iceland withdrew from this edition. The winner of the edition was Denmark with the song "Triumph", performed by Anja Nissen. This was Denmark's first win in 12 editions of participation, the longest winless run by a country in the history. Anja represented Denmark before, in June 2017, when she finished on the 2nd place, which was one of Denmark's best result in the finals so far. Bulgaria and The Netherlands finished in second and third place, respectively. 'Location' Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the collonaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewellery and more from Ancient Greece. 'Venue' The Peace and Friendship Stadium, commonly known by its acronym SEF is a multi-purpose indoor arena that is located in Piraeus, on the coastal zone of Attica, Greece. The arena is mostly known for being the home to EuroLeague team Olympiacos and is the central venue of the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex. It opened in 1985. The arena complex also contains a 942-seat amphitheatre, a weight training room, a full practice facility, three auxiliary courts that house the Olympiacos youth clubs, and the Olympiacos team office. 'Candidate cities' 'Format' The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 15 November 2017 with the semi-finals took place on 5 and 7 December and the final on 23 December 2017. 'Presenter' The presenters of the 12th edition were announced on 15 November. Helena Paparizou (born 31 January 1982), is a Greek-Swedish singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she enrolled in various art schools before launching a career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko (Greek folk music) and Eurodance duo Antique, who participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 and afterwards became popular in Greece. She represented the Greece twice, in April 2016 and in December 2016. She finished on the 9th place in April 2016 and 13th place in December 2016. She was the spokesperson for Greece once, in June 2017, in the ninth edition Demy Dimitra Papadea (born 21 August 1991), is a Greek singer who is signed with the Greek independent label Panik Records. In 2017, she represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 and finished at the 19th place at the Final. She represented the Greece with Playmen in February 2017, in the seventh edition. They finished on the 8th place with 75 points. 'Opening and interval acts' It was announced on 2 December 2017 that last edition's winner, Marina and The Diamond, would be part of the opening act during the show. The host, Helena and Sergey Lazarev will sing Sergey's song "You are the only one", as the interval act. 'Returning artists' 'Participants' 'Provisional list of participating countries' As of 12 November 2017, only the following country has confirmed their provisional interest to participate. 'Semi-final 1' 'Scoreboard' 'Semi-final 2' 'Scoreboard' 'Finalist' 'Scoreboard (finalists)' 'Scoreboard (semi-finalists)' Voting and spokespersons The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order: # United Kingdom – Calum Scott # Cyprus – Hovig # Ireland – Shane Filan # Latvia – Lauris Reiniks # Ukraine – ONUKA (Ukrainian representative in October 2017) # The Netherlands – Vinchenzo Tahapary # Germany – Miroslav Klose # Estonia – Stig Rästa # Italy – Laura Pausini # San Marino – Francesca Michielin (San Marinese representative in October 2017 and Italian representative in June 2016) # Bulgaria – Boryana Gramatikova # France – Petit Biscuit # Portugal – Fernando Daniel # Slovakia – Dominika Mirgová # Austria – Andi Knoll # Denmark – MØ # Norway – Agnete # Kosovo – Rita Ora (Kosovan representative in August 2017 and Swedish representative in October 2017) # Russia – Vladimir Putin # Spain – Manel Navarro # Greece – Marina and the Diamonds (Greek representative in October 2016 and the winner of October 2017) Participation map Participating countries. Did not qualify from the semi-final. Countries that participated in the past but not in December 2017. 'External links' * Facebook * Instagram * YouTube * Dailymotion * Official page